Practice Management
Urgent care watchers know the industry has been growing at a steady clip for years, with the latest surge fueled by patients and payers eager to get quality care for a fraction of the price of a trip to the emergency room. Some urgent care operators focus more on growth than others, of course. Health Data Management and Merchant Medicine teamed up to identify just which 30 urgent care chains have grown to be the …
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A new study of the Oregon Health Insurance Experiment shows the program has fallen short on one of the key benefits promised—namely, that emergency room traffic would be reduced if state Medicaid rolls were opened up to low-income adults through a lottery system. Nearly 90,000 residents signed up for the lottery, but EDs are as crowded as ever. It’s beyond question that urgent care could reduce the congestion, but most Medicaid programs don’t offer urgent …
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates more than 136 million people end up in an emergency room every year in the United States. Of those, 2.1 million are admitted to a critical care unit. Many of the rest could be treated just as well—and much more conveniently and less expensively—in a full-service urgent care center. Consider that the following are among the most common reasons for visits to the ED: Skin infections Cuts …
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The flu season has barely begun, with the peak not expected for at least 2 months, but there’s already an uptick in reported cases—and multiple deaths—around the country. Just last week, Nevada reported three fatalities and North Carolina reported its first of the 2016–2017 season. The grim news is an opportunity to stress to patients the importance of getting their annual flu shot early, as suggested by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Ask …
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that use of opioids in pregnant women can lead to birth defects, suggesting that alternatives for pain management of severe pain should be considered. In addition, more thought needs to be given about the wisdom of providing opioids to women who are of childbearing age and not using birth control. However, a study published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report found that opioids are prescribed to over …
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A new survey of hospital construction projects points to the ongoing growth of urgent care as one driver of a construction boom within the healthcare industry. In fact, urgent care, outpatient facilities, and medical specialty complexes are the key contributors to significant increases in new construction. Health Facilities Management’s 2016 Hospital Construction Survey indicated the boom is on track to continue, too; 35% of respondents said they expect to have a medical office project in …
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The Urgent Care Association (UCA) sent a letter to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in favor of lowering the copay patients would be responsible for when visiting an urgent care visit, effective in 2018. The changes would affect the cost-sharing structure for “standardized options” (ie, Simple Choice plans) that plan issuers offer in the individual insurance marketplace. Standardized options are intended to simplify the consumer plan selection process; each has a single …
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We told you recently that fewer than half the patients in the “millennials” age group (roughly, those born between 1982 and 2004) are planning to get a flu shot this year—in spite of the fact that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging patients in general to get vaccinated earlier than ever. Now a study by UPI indicates that U.S. parents who don’t get their kids immunized make that choice because they simply …
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Despite ready availability of condoms—as well as information through providers, public outreach campaigns, and the ubiquitous internet, cases of sexually transmitted disease reported in the U.S. reached an all-time high last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Combined reported cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis totaled more than 1.8 million in 2015, according to the CDC’s annual Sexually Transmitted Disease Surveillance Report. Sadly, those numbers are probably lower than the true …
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Uber drivers may be more inclined to drive themselves and their families to GoHealth Urgent Care Locations in the San Francisco area, thanks to incentives GoHealth parent Dignity Health is offering. The company is offering personalized and tech-enabled care to Uber drivers and their families at urgent-care clinics in the San Francisco Bay Area. They can also schedule appointments through an exclusive online and mobile platform and access a health education and wellness program that, …
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